Pageant News

Pageant - a small UK Charity which supports education and related projects in The Gambia.

22 March 2014

Richmond Riverside 10K Run 2014 - result!

The Pageant Runners did themselves proud today and were
worthy of the tremendous support they have received from family and friends.Sadly, Alice had injured herself in training,
but the other seven members of the team arrived in good time, raring to go.Alice had nobly come along to watch and support, as had several other friends and family members. Mercifully the overnight rain had cleared
away and it was bright, if rather chilly. The first challenge came even before the run started - the queue for the toilets!

With around 1,000 runners, the start was staggered and our
team were in the third group of four.

Some of the supporters went off to around the 8Km mark to
cheer them on their way – and then catch them again as they neared the finish.

At the time of writing this I
am not sure of all the final times, but I believe that four of the team finished
in under an hour – brilliant!You all
did so well and thoroughly deserve your medals. (Charlotte is missing from the
photo below, as she went home before it was taken, to look after an injury she
picked up during the run – we all hope you are feeling OK now.)

Thank you all so much, team, for all the training and effort
you have put into this, and thank you, too, to all your wonderful
supporters.The Gambian schools and
families that you will be able to help with the amazing amount you have raised
will be, as they would say themselves, highly grateful.

We are looking forward to our Gambian trip in April, when
Frances, Caroline, Rachel and Ellie will be coming out to give sports, maths and
art sessions and materials to several schools – I wish that all members of the team could
be coming… next time, maybe.Don’t
forget to keep an eye on the blog between 7th
and 18th April to see what is happening .

07 March 2014

Pippa's Diary Feb 2014, after Kathy’s departure…

A very brief outline of our last two weeks – sorry it’s a
bit late, but blame the intermittent internet (and my lack of staying power!!)
Oh, and in addition to paying out sponsorship, we were also giving out letter
forms on which the children write to their sponsors, and taking new photos of
children as well…I would not like you
to think we were slacking!! I have limited myself to one photo per day - very difficult...

Sat 15th Feb

Bakau and nearby area – sponsorship paid out for 15 children

Sun 16th Feb

Saw Samba, now in Police Force, will qualify for accelerated
promotion scheme after final year at MDI – agreed payment over 6 months.Wellingara, Abuko, Tallinding areas - sponsorship paid out
for 9 children and agreed to take 3 more onto our 'waiting' webpage.

Mon 17th Feb

Took letters from Year 3 children at Sandcross Primary
School in Reigate to Grade 3 children at Lutheran LBS in Abuko.

Special shopping trip in afternoon… then sponsorship paid
out for 3 children

Tue 18th Feb

Day in Brikama - sponsorship paid out for 20 children, one
child was given a dynamo radio and torch from his sponsor (great excitement!)
and we took another family a 50Kg sack of rice from their children’s sponsor –
again, this was received with great joy.

Wed 19th Feb

Fajara, Cape Point, Kotu and Bakoteh – a morning of NOT
finding people (Anna at MRC, Gibbi at Cape Point and Modou at Kotu).However, we still managed to pay sponsorship for
6 children, visited the YMCA learning centre,

sorted out University
fees for another student and ended up at Billy’s for a late
(4pm) lunch.Wandifa and Abdoulie tucked
in heartily but Ian and I could only manage one (huge) sandwich between us.

Thu 20th Feb

South Gambia day – we visited St Francis UBS, Banyaka LBS
(letters and gifts from 2 UK schools here), Gunjur LBS, Siffoe and then came
back via Mindaw UBS (where we arranged to do a practical microscopy class session
in April) and a couple of family compounds in Busumbala.In all we paid sponsorship out to 18
children.

Fri 21 Feb

Banjul day: we visited a new (to us) nursery school in
Banjul – Unity Daycare and Nursery,No
children there as it was mid-term break, but we arranged to go back next
week.Visited Albion LBS and were
surprised to find Tom and 2 other teachers there from Westdene Primary School
in Brighton – we had not realised they would be there.Had discussions re school funding with Albion
Headteacher, Elisabeth, and then went to Albert Market to buy some ethical
gifts – cooking pots & bowls, thermos flasks, and finally a huge sack of 40
family size mosquito nets, to take up-country with us on Monday.

Sat 22 Feb

Serrekunda and Kanifing - sponsorship paid out for 9
children and bought some more ethical gifts – watering cans and small buckets for
women’s gardens (like our allotments).

Sun 23 Feb

Jambanjelly & Brikama:Esther’s dresses day!We
collected Esther and Mike from their hotel – Esther and a group of friends had
made 170 dresses for little girls and had also made shorts and donated shirts
for little boys (about 40 in total).We
went to the north side of Jambanjelly first, which is where our ladies loan
group is based, and gave out about one third of Esther’s goodies – such excitement,
and the children just kept coming!We
repeated the whole thing at the south side of Jambanjelly, and then at Baba’s
compound and surrounding area in Brikama.What a success – Esther and her friends should be delighted with the result
of all their hard work, as the children and their families were so
thrilled.In amongst all this we managed
to pay out sponsorship to 9 children!

Mon 24 Feb

Kanikunda day!A long
day – we left at 6.30 am (VERY good packed breakfast from the hotel) and
travelled along the south bank of the river for about 120 miles or so, calling
in at Mayork SSS on our way to see our twin girls who are in their final year
there.We arrived at Kanikunda LBS at
around 10am, were welcomed by the Headteacher, visited on-going projects and
discussed new ones and delivered gifts of school uniform (donated by Willows
Primary school) and exercise books (more ethical gifts)

After that we went to the
village to give out the mosquito nets and then went to visit Wonto, Wandifa’s
sister, who had made us a delicious lunch of domada.Then, on to Tahir SSS in Mansa Konko, three
visits to families of sponsored children in Pakalinding and Soma (sponsorship
payments to 8 children in all) and then home with a few stops to pick up
firewood and charcoal – less expensive up-country than at home for Wandifa and
Abdoulie.Arrived back at the hotel just
after 9.30pm, so managed to get supper!

Tue 25 Feb

SOS SSS, St Therese’s LBS, Sukuta UBS, Kairaba SSS, YMCA and
GTTI – visited students and teachers at all these schools, checking up on
payment of fees and delivering a few gifts.

Wed 26 Feb

First, to RVTH prosthetic clinic to arrange fitting of Modou
Lamin’s new leg parts – we needed to buy a few materials for the clinic to be
able to fit it, so Abdoulie went to do this while we went back to Unity Nursery
to see the children and the school in action and to take them a couple of toys.Very well organised little school – we will certainly go there for a
sports etc morning in April.

Visited a
few students we had missed and then back to the hotel to start sorting out our
room – no mean task!!Final dinner at
Billy’s – delicious!!

Thu 27 Feb

Packed up our cases AND the stuff we were leaving at Linda’s,
paid our last bill, dropped in at Linda’s to leave stuff behind… and then to
the airport.Home via Las Palmas as we
had to pick up more fuel, but at least it was a quiet night when we landed at Gatwick!Until the nexttime…..

03 March 2014

Richmond Riverside Run 2014 - update

Frankie, Rachel, Ellie, Caroline, Georgina, Ruth, Alice and Charlotte are all training hard for their 10K run on 22 March 2014. Funds are starting to come in and we have already been able to buy some goodies (hoops, jumping sacks, bean bags, eggs-and-spoons, hoppy racers, soft balls and team bands) for sports events at several schools, so please keep them coming.
Frankie, Rachel, Ellie and Caroline will be coming out to The Gambia as part of our group in April, and, as well as some schools that we have visited before, we will be visiting a little nursery in Banjul which is a new one for us - Unity Nursery and Daycare Centre. Some photos of the children there, taken during our February trip, are shown here.

The photos above show the nursery children - the daycare children are below..... aaaaah!

Please do continue to support the 'Pageant runners' - your help is greatly appreciated.